A GOOD router, but not TOO EXPENSIVE?

a special wiring so that the 'read' wire on one end is connected to the 'write' connector on the other end.

you will need two in one of the machines .. see below

you will be wired like this;

modem --- {wan}system(A){lan} ---{lan}system(B)

system-a needs two nic cards, one to the modem with a regular ethernet cable(usually grey),
and the other to system-b with the cross-over cable(frequently blue or red)
which should be clearly marked as such.


the wan-side address will be set by your ISP.
system-a needs to have ICS enabled and that will force system-a{lan} side
to be 192.168.0.1. you add
a mask of 255.255.255.0
dns from your wan side
and copy the wan side gateway address

on system-b, set tcp/ip parms as
ip 192.168.0.2
mask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.1
dns 192.168.0.1

system-B must be able to ping 192.168.0.1 as well as your
wan side address

file/print sharing will be easy from there.

Your 2 computers are ready for a crossover cable. Just make sure you specify a "crossover" network cable, and not a "straight" network cable. A straight cable is used between a router and a computer. If both computers are running XP, connect the crossover cable between your 2 computers and turn them on. Go to Control Panel, Network Setup Wizard and follow directions. You will see a check box for File and Printer Sharing. You can decide what you want to do with it then